Spotted Bamboo Chashaku Tatsutagawa by Bansetsu Gomatake Tea Scoop Autumn Motif

Spotted Bamboo Chashaku — Mei "Tatsutagawa" (Tatsuta River) by Bansetsu. A gomatake tea scoop evoking the most celebrated river in Japanese autumn poetry. This vintage Japanese tea ceremony utensil transforms sesame-spotted bamboo into a meditation on scattered maple leaves. The cultural weight of this chashaku lies in its visual metaphor: dark irregular spots on golden bamboo mirror crimson momiji floating on autumn water. A signed wabi-sabi tea scoop with calligraphed wooden box and bamboo storage tube.

🔹 [ BASIC DETAILS ]
• Mei (銘): Tatsutagawa (竜田川) — Tatsuta River
• Maker: Bansetsu (萬拙)
• Length: Approximately 18.4 cm
• Material: Gomatake (胡麻竹) — Spotted / Sesame Bamboo
• Box: Wooden box with calligraphy, Sogen (宗玄) seal
• Includes: Bamboo tube inscribed "竜田川", paper wrapper with seal
• Condition: Vintage antique — patina and character consistent with age

🔹 [ CULTURAL & ARTISTIC INSIGHT ]
Tatsutagawa — the Tatsuta River in Nara — has been the cardinal image of autumn in Japanese poetry since the Heian period. "Chihayaburu / kami yo mo kikazu / Tatsutagawa / kara kurenai ni / mizu kukuru to wa" — Ariwara no Narihira's immortal verse describes the river's surface dyed crimson by floating maple leaves. Bansetsu chose gomatake for this scoop with the density of intention that defines authorship: the bamboo's natural spotted pattern becomes the leaves themselves, each dark mark a single momiji surrendered to the current.

🔹 [ DEEP-DIVE COMMENTARY ]
Gomatake — literally "sesame bamboo" — develops its distinctive spots through a natural fungal process that leaves irregular dark markings across the culm's surface. In this chashaku, the spots range from pinpoint flecks to broad, diffuse passages of brown against a warm gold ground. The effect is not uniform; it breathes and shifts as the eye travels the scoop's length, precisely as autumn leaves cluster and scatter on moving water.

The scoop's curve is unhurried, its thinning gradual and confident. The Sogen seal on the outer box and the calligraphed tube lid confirm the piece's provenance within a recognized tea lineage. To hold this chashaku during a November gathering is to carry the entire season in one's hand.

[ JAPANESE DESCRIPTION / 日本語解説 ]

🔸 [ 基本情報 ]
• 種類：茶杓（ちゃしゃく）
• 作者：萬拙（ばんせつ）
• 銘：竜田川（たつたがわ）
• 長さ：約18.4cm
• 素材：胡麻竹（ごまたけ）
• 箱：木箱（書付・宗玄印）
• 付属品：竹筒（「竜田川」墨書）、印入紙包
• 状態：古物品 — 時代相応の風合い

🔸 [ 文化的背景 ]
竜田川——奈良に流れるこの川は、平安の昔から日本の秋を象徴する歌枕です。在原業平の名歌「ちはやぶる 神代もきかず 竜田川 からくれなゐに 水くくるとは」は、紅葉に染まる川面を詠んだ不朽の一首。萬拙がこの茶杓に胡麻竹を選んだのは、竹の自然な斑点模様を紅葉そのものに見立てる、作者の意図の密度を感じさせます。

🔸 [ 解説 ]
胡麻竹は、自然の菌の作用により竹の表面に不規則な暗色の斑点が生じます。この茶杓では、温かな金色の地肌に、点状の細かい斑から、広がりのある褐色の滲みまでが混在し、その表情は流水に漂う紅葉の群れと散りを思わせます。十一月の茶席でこの茶杓を手にすることは、季節そのものを掌に載せることに他なりません。

🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ]
• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days
• Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking)
• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials